Chef’s jobs
Chef’s jobs are difficult to come across unless you have the correct culinary qualification, and without doubt the best qualification that you can obtain in South Africa is the Prue Leith Chefs’ Academy Diploma. One of the finest tributes that a catering college can get is to see the heading “Prue Leith graduates only” in the classified ads for chef’s jobs, and this is something that we at the college witness frequently. The chefs’ course at Prue Leith’s is extremely all-embracing covering every aspect of the catering industry and of culinary art. But how do you get into this prestigious college?
If you have the basic requirements, that is to say a standard grade Matric pass and you are at least eighteen years of age then you can apply by filling in the application form that you will find on this website. The chefs’ course starts twice a year in January and in July and it lasts for eighteen months. If your application is satisfactory you will have to attend an interview board at the college before being formally accepted onto a course. By graduating from the college you can expect to have all sorts of chefs jobs open up to you. There is a certain amount of equipment that you will have to provide out of your own pocket (things like chef’s uniforms, text books etc.)
Within a few days of starting the course, students are put to work on the job in the academy’s very own restaurant in the college grounds. Students man all jobs in the restaurant from preparing and cooking menu items, front of house, Maître d’Hotel, taking and serving orders at table, and serving as wine waiter. They also take a prominent part on stock takes and in the preparation of weekly trading accounts to test the performance of the restaurant. College chefs of course, oversee them, but essentially they run the restaurant and all the jobs therein themselves. The accolades received by Prue Leith’s restaurant speak for themselves – the restaurant has been awarded the Blazon from the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs in France and is placed in the top hundred South African restaurants. In fact the restaurant even gets bookings from overseas for people who will be travelling to South Africa.
Chefs jobs, of course, involve hard work, and the college restaurant is not the only place where students get practical experience. All students are placed at selected five-star hotels, restaurants and lodges for an eight-week period during the second and third semesters of the diploma course. Our students are so well thought of at these establishments that they are frequently offered chefs jobs at the establishment they have been working at once they have graduated from the school, another fine accolade for the chefs academy. Prue Leith Placements, a new addition to the Prue Leith Group, is yet another way of ensuring that our graduates have every opportunity of securing top chefs jobs whenever they come along. You will find an application form for the chefs academy elsewhere on our website.
